The Swans outshone pre-season expectations to qualify for September's decider but were thrashed by a Geelong side intent on making the most of its closing premiership window.
Sydney never led at any point of the game and their eventual 81-point loss was the equal-fifth-largest in the history of VFL/AFL grand finals.
But on the senior players' first day of pre-season, Mills said he was ready to put the defeat behind him.
"It was really disappointing. Geelong were unbelievable on the day and they're a really good side," he said.
"A bit of time away and processing (the loss), it takes a bit of time, but now you're back on day one, you're feeling good and ready to go."
The only two sides to suffer bigger grand final losses in the AFL era than Sydney - GWS in 2019 and Port Adelaide in 2007 - missed the finals the following season.
The Western Bulldogs, who lost the 2021 grand final by 74 points, only qualified for this year's top eight on percentage.
But Mills said the Swans had a clean slate and would review their season next week in a bid to defy recent history.
"Now we're back in the swing of things, we've got to get the right balance of reviewing the grand final and also reviewing the season," he said.
"There are always things you can get better at and that's the best thing about footy is that everyone starts on zero again.
"You don't want to take learnings out of a grand final but the reality is that's what we have to do and strive to get better every day.
"If we make those incremental improvements, backing our process in that got us (to the grand final) in the first place, while striving to get better every day, that's something that we'll plan to do."
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